Senator Lidia Thorpe caught on tape in dramatic confrontation
One of Australia’s biggest media personalities has brutally mocked Lidia Thorpe on air after footage of her wild strip club rant emerged.
One of Australia’s leading radio personalities has blasted Senator Lidia Thorpe in the wake of her explosive strip club meltdown.
Dramatic CCTV footage has emerged of the politician abusing a group of men outside Maxine’s Gentleman’s Club in Brunswick, Victoria over the weekend, accusing them of stealing her land and making lewd comments about their genitalia.
On Monday, 2GB’s Ben Fordham weighed into the messy saga, accusing the independent of “acting like a lunatic”.
“Lidia, you need a check up. You need help. Storming around a strip joint at 3 o’clock in the morning and abusing people is no way of conducting an important discussion about the future of this country,” Fordham said on air.
“Accusing strangers of stealing your land is race baiting. You’re provoking people and trying to start fights.
“Go home – why didn’t someone say to Lidia, ‘Lidia, go home?’
“I’m guessing they’ve seen it all at Maxine’s, but they won’t cop a racist politician acting like a thug.”
Pauline Hanson has also urged police to investigate Senator Thorpe’s actions over the weekend.
The One Nation leader wants Victoria Police to take a closer look at the CCTV and iPhone videos of the wild early morning verbal argument.
“I think Victoria police should be carefully examining that footage to determine if Senator Thorpe has broken the law,” Senator Hanson said.
“The Australian Human Rights Commission might also consider examining the footage for possible breaches of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. I think the people subjected to her abuse on the weekend should come forward and see that she is held accountable, because the Senate has shown it’s too gutless to do so.
“No one – least of all an elected representative of the people – is above the law.”
Ms Hanson said Ms Thorpe was not an appropriate representative for Victorians.
“Many Victorians would be asking if Senator Thorpe had any intentions of fairly representing them in Canberra given her obvious contempt for parliament and for those Australians who do not share her Aboriginal heritage, and even her contempt for those who do share Aboriginal her heritage but not her views,” she said.
“That contempt is on full display in this footage and has been during incidents in which she has verbally attacked Aboriginal elders, or protested at public events, and even when she has spoken on the floor of the Senate.”
The 3am incident, in which Ms Thorpe taunted a stranger about his “small penis” and filmed patrons from the door of a waiting taxi – was caught on CCTV.
Security footage obtained exclusively by news.com.au reveals that the MP circles a group of men waiting outside the club before pointing her finger at them and shouting about the size of their genitalia.
At one point she also whips out her own iPhone to film the patrons who were filming her.
In the confrontation, which takes place partially off camera in the iPhone footage, Senator Thorpe can also be seen walking up to a man with his back to the wall of Maxine’s Gentleman’s Club before shouting abuse.
The independent, who earns more than $200,000 a year as a Senator, split with the Greens earlier this year.
“Wish I got paid $200,000 to behave like that,” said manager David Ross.
“She starts walking up to people putting it in their face and taking photos of them.”
For several seconds she then stands face-to-face with the man as a crowd of onlookers watch on.
During the exchange, it appears a taxi is waiting for the Senator to leave the premises while she films onlookers.
Ms Thorpe has been banned for life from the strip club in Brunswick, an inner-city suburb in Melbourne.
Manager David Ross told news.com.au that he had now formally banned the politician in a letter that was sent to her office this morning.
“Please do not attempt to enter the venue in future, as being refused entry may cause further embarrassment,” Mr Ross said.
“Maxine’s Gentlemen’s Club is a local Brunswick club which prides itself on providing a relaxed environment and fostering harmony between patrons of all genders and from all ethnic and religious backgrounds; a fact the staff and dancers are very proud of.
“With this in mind, and after reviewing security footage and speaking with staff and security, I have to inform you that you are no longer welcome at Maxine’s Gentlemen’s Club.”
The Victorian Senator’s wild night out was captured on video after she unleashed a foul-mouthed spray in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“All I want to say to the black brothers there and anyone that we’re fighting,’’ she said.
“Any black man that stands with the f***ing white little c*** like that – youse can all get f***ed too.”
She also told one man outside the strip club, “You’ve got a small penis!”
Senator Thorpe told 7 News, who first published the video, she did not start the exchange but was responding herself to taunts and harassment.
She was out over the weekend celebrating a 50th birthday with friends before her early morning meltdown.
It prompted one of the men to complain, “how the f*** does someone get in parliament like you?”
But Senator Thorpe, who has declared herself the de facto leader of the black sovereignty movement in Australia, hit back with another verbal attack.
“We’ve been repressed all our f***ing life in this country and you let this little dog speak,’’ she said.
As a friend tries to drag her away, she tells another man “You are marked.”
The video was first reported exclusively by 7 News with one of the men slamming Senator Thorpe as “out of control.” But she told 7 News she had not done anything wrong.
“It’s sad people are utilising whatever they can to drag me down when we’re trying to discuss important issues in this country,” she said.
David Ross, general manager of the strip club Maxine’s, told news.com.au that he planned to ban the Victorian senator “for life” from the establishment.
“I’ve looked at the security footage and spoken to bouncers and the bar manager,’’ he said.
“She came in with three other people. And she was just Lidia Thorpe. She was argumentative.”
Mr Ross said she was not intoxicated and was never asked to leave the strip club but she would now be banned from the strip club.
“She’s banned. She’s barred. That’s it,’’ he said.
No stranger to controversy, three weeks ago Senator Thorpe complained she was “pulverised” after police threw her to the ground at a protest at Parliament House.
In footage shared online, the independent senator – draped in an Aboriginal flag – was pushed to the ground by police as she attempted to crawl away before standing back up and walking over to the larger group.
“And I got pulverised by the police,” she said.
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